Article
March 16, 2001
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE Volume 5 – 2001
· MBA’S LEGISLATION WORKING THROUGH PROCESS
· PRIVACY LEGISLATION SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 26TH PUBLIC HEARING
· CONTACTS NEEDED ON FARM CREDIT SALES TAX EXEMPTION
· BANKERS DAY ON APRIL 10TH
· NEW DATE FOR NEXT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE – APRIL 5
To date over 1700 bills have been printed. House and Senate General Sessions are getting more frequent and longer. Committees have been instructed to get bills out of Committee and to the House and Senate, so the Committees have full schedules and their sessions are running well into the early evening. Please call us if there is a bill not covered in this UPDATE that you are interested in. We also encourage you to sign-up for email delivery of our LEGISLATIVE UPDATES. Please contact us if you want to be on our email delivery list.
PRIVACY LEGISLATION PUBLIC HEARING SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY, MARCH 26th
LD 1640, An ACT to Conform the State’s Financial Services Privacy Laws with Federal Law has been scheduled for a 10 AM Public Hearing before the Banking and Insurance Committee on Monday, March 26th. This legislation introduced by the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation seeks to incorporate the provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act affecting banking, insurance, and securities and all other financial services into Maine Law. We are distributing today to our Members, Legislative Committee Members, and Legal Firms who are Special Associate Members, both the printed bill and a copy of a marked-up version of the Department’s draft which reflects changes to the printed bill that the Maine Bankers Association, the Bureau of Banking, and the Department along with MACB and the Maine Credit Bureau have agreed to support as amendments at the public hearing. We have asked Ryan Stinneford at Pierce Atwood to work from the marked up version and put together the actual amended version of LD 1640, which the fore mentioned groups would support at the public hearing. LD 1640 as amended fully incorporates GLB’s “opt out” provisions for consumers. LD 1640, however, does not change the impact of Maine’s 9B, Chapter 16 on commercial relationships. The work session for LD 1640 is likely to be scheduled for April 2nd.
LD 375, An ACT to Ensure Parity in the Sale of Securities by Maine Financial Institutions was passed by the Banking & Insurance Committee and should be in the House and Senate for deliberation next week. This legislation amends state law governing broker-dealer registration of providers of financial services and the related provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This legislation will provide banks with greater opportunities to offer mutual funds and other security investments to their customers. We expect this LD to be enacted in the House and Senate without controversy.
LEGISLATIVE CONTACTS NEEDED FOR LD 577
LD 577, An ACT to Create Equitable Taxation of Leased Property removes the sales tax exemption enjoyed by the Farm Credit system when it provides leased equipment. Private leasing companies including banks must pay a sales tax when leasing this equipment. The Farm Credit System has mounted a significant lobbying effort to retain their state tax exemption. This will be a difficult one to get an “ought to pass” vote on unless more of our members can get involved in contacting members of the Taxation Committee in support of LD 577. The Taxation Committee Members are:
Senator Ken Gagnon, Senate Chair, of Waterville Senator Ken Lemont of Kittery
Senator Richard Kneeland of Easton
Rep. Bonnie Green, House Chair, of Monmouth Rep. Stephen Stanley of Medway
Rep. Joseph Perry of Bangor Rep. Bernard McGowan of Pittsfield
Rep. Janet McLaughlin of Cape Elizabeth Rep. Eleanor Murphy of Berwick
Rep. John Buck of Yarmouth Rep. Randall Bumps of China
Rep. David Bowles of Sanford
These Taxation Committee Members can be left messages at the Taxation Committee Room, 287-1552 or by writing them at State House, Augusta, ME 04333.
The simple message is that “The recent Supreme Court decision against the Farm Credit’s Co-Bank has upheld the right of a state to require Farm Credit operations to pay a state’s sales tax on leasing arrangements just like banks have to. Farm Credit customers and bank customers should be treated the same. I would ask you to support LD 577 and the equitable taxation of leased equipment transactions.”
The messages need not be long; but it is very important that the Committee members receive input from other industry members. These contacts must be made before the Work Session for LD 577, which is scheduled for 9:30 AM on Monday, March 26th.
TELEMARKETING LEGISLATION TWISTING AND TURNING
LD 585, An ACT to Remove Telemarketers from the Application of the Consumer Solicitation Sales Laws would as amended remove supervised financial institutions and their affiliates and agents from the Consumer Solicitation Sales statute. This bill was introduced by MBA because we were concerned that it might be interpreted that financial service telemarketers operating in Maine could only complete a sale by obtaining a written authorization from the consumer. Federal law allows telemarketers the option of obtain verbal authorization or to use e-signatures. We did agree, however, to accept an amendment from the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation that would specifically only apply the exemption from the Consumer Solicitation Sales Act to financial institutions, their affiliates, and their agents. This amendment also has the support of the Attorney General’s office. Financial institutions and affiliates located in Maine would still have to abide by all federal laws, including the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule, and the FCC Telemarketing Regulations, and Maine’s Telemarketing Laws, which include requiring compliance with “Do Not Call List” requirements. By enacting LD 585 Maine’s telemarketing laws for financial institutions, their affiliates, and their agents will be the same as those found in Federal law. At the first work session, discussion turned from making state and federal law consistent to attacking telemarketing as an invasion of one’s home privacy and needing a way to prohibit telemarketing to senior citizens. The AARP at the public and work session has been pressing hard for additional laws to prohibit or limit telemarketing. A second work session has been scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday, March 20th before the Utilities Committee. In an initial vote with only 10 of the 13 Committee members present, LD 585 received a 6 to 4 “ought to pass” report. Those voting in favor of LD 585 were Senate Chair, Norm Ferguson (R) of Hanover, House Chair William Savage (D) of Buxton, Rep. Larry Bliss (D) of South Portland, Rep. Chris Hall (D) of Damariscotta, Rep. Monica McGlocklin (D) of Embden, and Rep. Don Berry (R) of Belmont. Voting against LD 585 were Senator Sharon Treat (D) of Gardiner, Senator David Carpenter (R) of Springvale, Rep. Royce Perkins (R) of Penobscot and Rep. Richard Crabtree (R) of Appleton. Because the Committee has to review the amendment to the bill at the Work Session on Tuesday, there may be another vote after the discussion of the amendment. If there is, we may have a stronger vote in favor of LD 585.
LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE WEEKLY PAYROLL STILL AROUND
LD 57, An ACT to Require That Certain Employees Be Paid on a Weekly Basis has been reported out by the Labor Committee as 7 to 6 “Ought Not to Pass.” Supporters have promised to wage a full effort in the House and Senate for its passage. With so many new legislators, I expect that the legislation will receive some support in the House and Senate, but I do not expect it to be enacted. We will, however, not leave anything to chance. We will continue to lobby against this legislation. The 6 members of the Labor Committee voting in favor of LD 57 were all Democrats: Senate Chair, Senator Beth Edmonds of Freeport, House Chair, Rep. Zach Matthews of Winslow, Rep. George Bunker of Kossuth Township, Rep. Deborah Hutton of Bowdoinham, Rep. Jacqueline Norton of Bangor, and Rep. William Smith of Van Buren. Voting “ought not to pass” were Republicans Senator Tom Sawyer of Bangor, Senator Karl Turner of Cumberland,, Rep. Jay MacDougall of North Berwick, Rep. Russ Treadwell of Carmel, Rep. Gerry Davis of Falmouth, Rep. Phil Cressey of Baldwin, and Democratic Representative Frank Tarazewich of Waterboro.
LD 142, An ACT to Ensure that Persons Issuing Bad Checks are Solely Responsible for Overdraft Charges has been voted “ought not to pass” in both the House and Senate and this legislation is dead for the session. The issue of bad checks and enforcement of Maine law against the writer of those checks, however, will be part of the discussion of LD 1434, An ACT to Amend the Maine Criminal Code to Reduce the Incentive to Commit Theft, which will have its Public Hearing on Tuesday, March 20th at 1PM before the Criminal Justice Committee. Rep. Lois Snowe-Mello the chief sponsor of LD 142 is a member of the Criminal Justice Committee and plans to address the enforcement issue during discussion of LD 1434.
LD 153, An ACT to Reduce Finance Charges on Consumer Loans has been defeated in both the House and Senate.
LD 256, An ACT to Limit the Interest Rate Charges on Debt to 29% has been defeated in both the House and Senate.
Just Reported Out of Committee
LD 10, An ACT to Require Credit Card Issuers to Provide Greater Notice of Change in Terms has just been reported out of the Banking and Insurance Committee with a 9 to 4 “ought not to pass” report. This legislation would only affect financial institutions that actually issue their credit cards in Maine. MBNA would not be affected; but this sets a bad precedent. Four of the committee members including the bill’s sponsor Rep. Kevin Glynn (R) of South Portland, joined by Rep. William Smith (D) of Van Buren, Rep. Ben Dudley (D) of Portland, and Rep. Marilyn Canavan (D) of Waterville have submitted a minority report calling for the change of notice to be at least 45 days. The original bill would have required 90 days. I expect the sponsor to want to have a full debate in the House when this bill appears on the calendar next week.
REPORT ON MAINE EDUCATIONAL LOAN AUTHORITY ISSUED
On Thursday, March 15th, the Business and Economic Development Committee formally accepted the report by Grant Thornton, LLP on the Maine Education Loan Authority. The report was ordered by the Legislature to make recommendations regarding how to organize the delivery of supplemental student loan services in Maine funded by tax-exempt bond financing. The approach taken was to focus on the best interests of students and to avoid past disputes.
The report’s most important observations were that the delivery system needed to restore the confidence of Maine’s elected leaders; that MELA/MES has a favorable reputation among the colleges in Maine for providing high quality loan services; and that MELA/MES has a stronger regard among financial aid professionals than does FAME. The report also called for MELA to retain its independent status and that MELA reinforce its independent status by rebidding its administrative services and allow MES, FAME, and other potential service providers to compete for this business. MELA announced at the hearing that this process of seeking bids for its administrative services has begun.
In reviewing the report, we feel that it was well done and that the presentation of this report should help to move the process ahead while keeping intact the quality service to Maine students being provided by MELA.
JOINT MBA/MACB LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE TO MEET ON THURSDAY, APRIL 5th
We have moved up the date for the next joint MBA/MACB Legislative Committee Meeting to April 5th. Committee members please note the change on your calendars. The timing is very good because we will probably be focusing on winning support for the privacy legislation in the full house and senate and on finalizing our plans for Bankers Day on April 10th.
BANKERS DAY, APRIL 10, 2001
Over 80 MBA and MACB members have signed up to participate as a legislative shadow on Bankers Day, April 10, 2001. If you or your institution has not forwarded the names of their participants to this office, please do so as soon as possible as we need to finish our pairings and get our letters out to the Senators and Representatives. We really would like to have all 181 legislators paired with a banker.
All Bankers Day participants are asked to be at the Hall of Flags on the second floor of the State House by 8 AM. We will be serving coffee and a light breakfast to all participants and legislators. Legislators will be asked to meet their banker shadows at 8 AM in the Hall of Flags, on the second floor of the State House. Parking is limited around the State House. We recommend the Parking Garage across from the State Office Building. Most legislators will be taking their shadows to caucus and chairmen’s meetings which being around 8 AM. The General Sessions for the House and Senate are scheduled to begin at 9 AM.
We will also be serving lunch in the Hall of Flags for all legislators and banker participants; and we are asking all participants to plan on attending the Committee meetings which begin at 1:30 p.m. with their legislators at least through 2:30 or 3 p.m., or later if you can.
Our program again this year will focus on Community Contributions and Employee Volunteerism related to supporting the five fundamental resources of the AMERICA’S PROMISE program. A group of MBA/MACB members will be recognized by the House and Senate for their volunteer contributions – our 2001 America’s Promise Volunteers.
Our support of the America’s Promise program and the volunteers will also be recognized at 12:30 p.m. in a brief program involving the Legislature’s leadership and our Association’s leadership.
Participating MBA and MACB members will be receiving during the week of April 2nd a brief summary of the key legislative positions that our industry has to assist them with their discussions with their legislative hosts.
If you would like to begin receiving the MBA Legislative Update via E-Mail, please send your request to psnow@mainebankers.com and we will no longer mail the update to you. Thank you for helping us to save on postage!
